Cray Valley Paper Mills head the short distance to The Valley as they conclude the First-Round ties in the Emirates FA Cup this weekend with a Sunday evening date with League One and former winners of the competition Charlton Athletic. 

For Steve McKimm’s side, Sunday’s game seems a lifetime away from their Preliminary Round tie at SCEFL Lordswood over the August Bank Holiday weekend and we have been talking to the current Player of the Year, Sonny Black, who has been an integral part of Valley’s Cup run playing in every one of the Clubs eight ties to date.  

“It’s fine lines,” Black admitted after Lordswood took Valley to a Preliminary Round replay when the run had barely begun.

“We have had tight games; some that should not have been as tight as they were. Although we have scored a lot of goals (twenty-two goals in their eight ties), but we have leaked a few too. In the Lordswood game we should have been out of sight but gave a way a sloppy goal too.” 

“Getting promoted and getting into the League above is our number one priority and we have beaten two sides (Carshalton and Enfield) to get to the First Round. By beating them, I feel that we’ve showed that we are at that level and want to be at that level. We have got a long way to go before we even potentially get promoted, by beating them it certainly adds to the confidence within the team and shows us what we can do.” 

For McKimm, the game at the Valley marks an amazing first few months in the Badgers hotseat after taking over in the summer. Black admitted, “We kept a lot of the players so when Steve came in in the summer there was not a complete change. We kept eight or nine but Steve has added to the squad which have strengthened the team well, and I think that there’s a few different things that Steve and his team have added to our game that could potentially take us to the next level, which so far we’ve shown on this Cup run, and the results are showing that!” 

“We’re certainly not the finished article at this time as we’re still learning and still gelling as we are still trying to understand what the manager wants and so it’s all coming together – we’re always going to be trying to improve but it is coming together nicely.” 

Cray Valley will follow Isthmian Southeast rivals Sheppey United and Ramsgate with First Round ties and Black told us, “It shows how strong the League is and it is probably the strongest it has ever been. There are some very good teams in the division, and we will have to continue to improve.” 

Valley go into the weekend on the back of another knock-out triumph in the FA Trophy last weekend when they dumped Chatham Town out of that competition.

“The Gaffer said that every game we will only focus on the next game – every week, taking it week by week or even session by session, we’ve only been looking ahead and preparing for the next game that we’re facing and so on.” 

“Now that Charlton is the next game, there is a really nice feeling about the group and that win at Chatham, it is nice to go into the weekend with some momentum – the lads are buzzing, and it is going to be a good week. I have not played at The Valley before and I have to say that Sunday will be the biggest day of my career as we are playing a professional team, and it will be amazing!” 

“We hope that we can cause an upset – we’ll go there and do everything we can as we do every game, leaving it all out there and you never know in Cup football, you never know.” 

Images courtesy of Romana Rule